Mangaluru: Children's Rights Commission expresses concern over conditions at Wenlock Hospital
Mangaluru: The Chairman of the State Children's Rights Protection Commission, Shashidhar Kosambe, visited the District Nutritional Rehabilitation Centre at Wenlock Hospital in Mangaluru on Friday, where he expressed his dissatisfaction over the poor conditions and mismanagement at the facility.
Kosambe personally sampled the food provided to the children at the centre and interacted with the parents of the children who were admitted. He raised concerns after finding that the newly increased rate of ₹370 per day for the caregivers was not reflected in the centre's records, which still showed the older rate of ₹100.
He was also critical of the poor management of child admissions at the centre, noting that no proper register was maintained. He reprimanded the centre’s supervisors for the lapse and issued a show-cause notice to the medical authorities, directing them to submit the required information to the Commission.
Kosambe also visited the emergency unit where severely malnourished infants are treated and then proceeded to inspect the Ladygoshen Hospital. During his visit, he noted several issues, including the malfunctioning of the air-conditioning systems in the critical care unit. According to Kosambe, a 24/7 air-conditioning system is mandatory in such units, but the system was found to be inoperative.
He also expressed concern over the inadequate CCTV surveillance at the hospital. In the wake of recent incidents of child abductions across the country, Kosambe stressed the need for a proper surveillance system to ensure the safety of the children.
Kosambe highlighted that although the district health officials had identified 28 severely malnourished children in the district, no rehabilitation efforts were being provided for them at the centre. Despite government funds being allocated for infrastructure, beds, and staff, no records were maintained, and no steps had been taken to provide adequate care.
He further criticized the dietician staff for handling financial records, nutritional food information, and government guidelines instead of ensuring proper care. Kosambe noted that the food for the children was being stored in a refrigerator, but it appeared to be improperly maintained.
"We believe that every child must be given the best nutritional care. However, due to the negligence of the authorities here, I have directed the hospital authorities and district health officials to take immediate action and provide a report to the Commission within three days. If no action is taken, the Commission will file a suo-motu case," he said.
Kosambe emphasized that a detailed report about the actions taken to address the issues raised during his visit must be submitted within three days. He warned that failure to submit the report would lead to the Commission taking legal action and referring the matter to the government for appropriate recommendations.
Present during the visit were District Health Officer Dr. Timmayya, Wenlock Hospital Superintendent Dr. Shivaprasad, and RCHO Dr. Rajesh.
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Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
